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The New Workplace Discrimination: “Must Be Currently Employed to Apply.”

March 10, 2012 | Christelyn Karazin |

I should just call this whole post “What-da-phuck-news.”

I heard it once on the radio and didn’t think much about it.

Then I saw it on the TEE VEE, along with an add from CareerBuilder in black and white.

The news: While 227,000 new jobs were added (woo hoo) last February, the unemployment rate is still at 8.3%. Wonder why? Maybe it’s because employers are engaging in discrimination. See, they only want folks who already have a job, to apply for the job.

“Most executive recruiters won’t look at a candidate unless they have a job, even if they don’t like to admit to it,” said Lisa Chenofsky Singer, a human resources consultant from Millburn, NJ, specializing in media and publishing jobs.

She said when she proposes candidates for openings, the first question she is often asked by a recruiter is if they currently have a job. If the answer is no, she’s typically told the unemployed candidate won’t be interviewed.

“They think you must have been laid off for performance issues,” she said, adding that this is a “myth” in a time of high unemployment.

Now if employment in America was at 4% like in the early 2000’s heyday, I woulda, coulda, maybe, understood this. But now? NOW? When people at the top of their field who have lost their jobs because businesses have shuttered or downsized, or otherwise got dumped unrelated to performance?

Make no mistake, this IS discrimination, and it stinks more than Leroy’s morning breath.

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